Coaching practices for What Counts as Evidence

Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For What Counts as Evidence, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.

Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?

• I’m leaning hard on the evidence that lines up with what I want to be true and brushing off the rest
• A flimsy study that confirms what I want I’ll wave straight through, but a solid one that contradicts me I’ll pick apart for hours
• On the days I feel like I count for nothing, I can’t actually see any proof that I do
• I start "researching" a question but I notice I’m really just typing in searches that hand me the answer I already wanted
• Someone stated something with total confidence and I just nodded and built on it

Practices that may help

1. Evaluate evidence by its likelihood ratio, not by how it makes you feel
   Ask how much more likely this evidence would be if you’re right versus if you’re wrong.
   Bayesian Thinking: How to Update Beliefs Rationally
2. Apply the same evidence standard regardless of whether you like the conclusion
   Grade the evidence before you know which conclusion it supports.
   Motivated Reasoning
3. Notice how you already matter
   Deliberately surface evidence that you are noticed, important, or relied upon.
   Mattering: Feeling Like You Count
4. Structure the analysis before searching for evidence
   Define what you’re looking for and what would count as evidence before starting your search.
   Confirmation Bias: Seeing What You Expect to See
5. Probe for evidence behind claims
   Ask "what evidence supports that?" before accepting any factual or evaluative claim.
   Socratic Questioning
6. State your prior probability before seeing the evidence
   Before looking at any data, commit to a numerical estimate of how likely something is.
   Bayesian Thinking: How to Update Beliefs Rationally
7. Identify which features are actually diagnostic
   Separate features that genuinely differentiate categories from ones that just complete the picture.
   The Representativeness Heuristic — Judging by Resemblance
8. Weigh disconfirming evidence more heavily than confirming evidence
   One strong counterexample outweighs many confirming examples for a universal claim.
   Falsification Thinking
9. Examine the evidence for and against
   Systematically list what supports your interpretation and what doesn’t — like a fair-minded lawyer, not a prosecutor.
   Check the Facts, Made Practical
10. Update beliefs by degrees, not wholesale
    Treat new information as evidence that shifts probabilities, not as proof that changes everything.
    Base-Rate Neglect: Why We Ignore the Odds

Describe your situation in your own words to search the complete practice library.